Monday, February 27, 2017

Picasso Head isn't a super educational activity, but boy did my students have fun creating their own Picasso head. They get to add all of the facial elements to their picture to create a very abstract face. The first time I used it, I had my middle schoolers create a self portrait. We laughed and laughed when we showed each other because the elements are so goofy. Because of this great memory, I had to share this site with you. Even if you only use it as a time filler one day when you have 10 extra minutes, or on a rainy day when you can't go to recess, just try it. I can almost guarantee you laughs.

My schools art teacher does use this site to talk about the era in which Picasso painted and the way that art has changed over the decades. It is a great activity to do when looking at paintings from this time period to see how these artists created these faces.

Try it out & let me know what you think,
Mrs. Tech

*If you are more of a visual learner, check out my "how to" video on using Picasso Head, as well as some way to use it in the classroom.

**If you want to have your students try out Picasso Head, download this tool that walks them through step by step directions on how to create their first picture.

Thursday, February 23, 2017

Comic Master is a site that allows students to create their own comic book type stories. They provide the characters and the elements, and students just have to drag and drop to make their stories come to life.

As you can see below, there are many different things that you can do with Comic Master. They even have teaching resources that you can download to accompany their comics. The easiest way to share their comic with you at the end it to print it. I sometimes even have my students read their comics to the class! They really enjoy this.

Part of what I love about Comic Master is that it gives students the ability to start from scratch and to design it how students envision it in their heads. I have done this activity with 1st - 12th graders and they have all had a great time with it. Students never cease to amaze me with the creative ideas that they come up with when given free rein on projects like this.

Try it out & let me know what you think,
Mrs. Tech

*If you are more of a visual learner, check out my "how to" video on using Comic Master, as well as some way to use it in the classroom.

**If you want to have your students try out Comic Master, download this tool that walks them through step by step directions on how to create their first story.

Monday, February 20, 2017

Formative (like Socrative) is a great assessment tool that can be used to quiz/test or review with students from an online platform. It is so easy to use and is quick to navigate on the teacher side. The longest part will be the amount of time you have to spend inputting the questions, but as soon as a student hits the submit button, it will grade it for you. So think about it - spend an hour putting in the quiz (that you can use for years to come with a little updating) and no grading time or still spending the time creating the quiz and making copies of it, and STILL having to grade. Please. This is just common sense.

One of the main differences between Formative and Socrative (shown in the video linked below) is that Formative is mainly focused around in class use and isn't used much as a summative assessment tool. One of my favorite formative features is that you can upload a picture of a diagram and have students label different parts of it while you sit there and watch. Or you can upload a picture of a state and ask them to point out where the capital is or where you are. While watching students, you have the ability to rate their work on a scale of 1-10 so they can adjust as needed.

There is a class code that you share with your students so that they can quickly access the questions that you are asking them. I have my class code written at the top of my board and labeled with which website it is too. My students know to look there if they need it so that class doesn't stop when I ask them to complete a question on Formative. This really is such a great assessment tool to know where your students stand in the middle of your lesson or unit.

Try it out & let me know what you think,
Mrs. Tech

*If you are more of a visual learner, check out my "how to" video on using Formative, as well as some way to use it in the classroom.

**If you want to have your students try out Formative, download this tool that walks you through the set up and where to find all of the tools that you need.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

I wanted to share with you some of my favorite online Presidents Day activities that my students enjoy each year! These are all kid-friendly websites and most of them are free of any ads. Some are educational and others are just fun for early finishers!

Monday, February 13, 2017

Powtoon was introduced to me by a friend who was working on a presentation for one of our professional development days. She was talking about how boring PowerPoint could get when it was presenting information to those who were forced to attend meetings. She was going to try something different - and that is where Powtoon came in. Powtoon is a presentation software that allows you to share information using cartoons, speech bubbles, and animations.

Basically, you can make cartoons enter and exit your screen at any point, and they can share information while they are there. Think about Saturday morning cartoons that you are creating yourself to share something that is of interest to you! There are some great graphics and you can even add your own images and sound.

Let's be real here, who wouldn't like a presentation where cartoons are teaching you about the next latest and greatest in the world of education?
Try it out & let me know what you think,
Mrs. Tech

*If you are more of a visual learner, check out my "how to" video on using Powtoon, as well as some way to use it in the classroom.

**If you want to have your students try out Powtoon, download this tool that walks them through step by step directions on how to complete their first presentation.

Friday, February 10, 2017

It's that time of year again! I wanted to share with you some of my favorite online Valentines Day activities that my students enjoy each year! These are all kid-friendly websites and most of them are free of any ads. Some are educational and others are just fun for early finishers or Valentines Day parties!

Thursday, February 9, 2017

ZipGrade is a tool that I encourage the Middle and High School teachers in my school to use, but it can be beneficial to Elementary students as well if you take standardized tests. This is completely a teacher tool and a super easy way to grade papers.

The only difference for students from regular tests/quizzes is that they fill out the answer sheet document with their tests. The answer sheet documents are available here on the ZipGrade website.

The only difference for teachers is that the ONLY thing you have to do is hold your phone or tablet over the student answer sheet and it will tell you which ones they got right/wrong and a total number and grade if you so choose.

ZipGrade is free (and so is the app) if you only scan 100 or less tests a month. There is a charge if you want to scan more than that, but it is worth it for the ease in grading and prepping your students for these types of tests that they will take in college.

Try it out & let me know what you think,
Mrs. Tech

*If you are more of a visual learner, check out my "how to" video on using Zip Grade, as well as some way to use it in the classroom.

Tuesday, February 7, 2017

Have you heard? There is a fabulous TpT sale going on right now where you can save up to 28% off on ALL resources! I don't know about you, but my virtual cart is pretty full of all the goodies I want to buy.

I wanted to highlight some of my favorite resources that you can get on sale and use for the month of February from my store.

All Month Long: This bundle includes over 40 webquests that you can use with your students to learn about those who made a difference. Included with almost ever biography webquest is a quote or two that they said, as well as a video that gives a brief synopsis of their lives that students can access via a QR code. The bundle also includes writing prompts and quotes on poster sized paper for classroom display.

February 14th: Includes a 2 page (20 question) webquest, 8 writing prompts, and a list of online websites that your students can use to learn more about Valentine's Day!

February 20th: Includes a 1 page (10 question) webquest, 4 writing prompts, and a list of online websites that your students can use to learn more about President's Day!

There are some other great resources that you can snatch up, including my Planets Webquest and my newest product - Holiday's Webquest Bundle.

This bundle has all that you need to teach about the Solar System with a concentration on the planets. Included with this bundle is a webquest for each planet, a preassessment of general planet knowledge, QR codes with links to videos, weight & age on the planets activities, planet sorts, and lots of other activities.

This GROWING bundle will include all of my holiday webquests. It will be updated this year as each of the holidays approach and will be complete by December. There will also be bonus webquests added that go along with different holidays.

Monday, February 6, 2017

Wonderopolis is a fun tool to answer all of those crazy questions that your students answer that you don't really have answers to. It is all fact based information and has such a wide range and variety of questions that they answer. A lot of times when students ask me questions that go beyond our textbook, I direct them here to find answers.

You have two options to inspire
your inquiries:

Explore Wonders: There will be a
list of top things that people wonder or the ones that are popular today for
you to look over

What are you Wondering?: You can
search for anything. Ask it any question or insert a topic. If there isn’t an
answer to your question, they will list similar topics. If you aren’t happy
with similar topics, you can scroll down on the homepage to the option where it
says “Make YOUR wonder a wonderful reality – Add your Question to the Wonder
Bank” and add your wonder to be answered.

Two things I LOVE about Wonderopolis:

There are always sources cited at the bottom to share where the information came from

If you hover over any highlighted word, it will give you the definition

Try it out & let me know what you think,
Mrs. Tech

*If you are more of a visual learner, check out my "how to" video on using Wonderopolis, as well as some way to use it in the classroom.

**If you want to have your students try out Wonderopolis, download this tool that walks them through step by step directions on how to search for anything they wonder.

Thursday, February 2, 2017

For those of you that don't know, I am married to a Varsity Football coach. To say that our lives revolve around football for over half the year would almost be an understatement. Although he is way more into college football than the NFL, we still appreciate any good match up of two fantastic football teams.

The Super Bowl is such an exciting time for people everywhere, but how can you let your students express that excitement in the classroom? I have found some super fun Super Bowl (or football related) activities that you can incorporate into your classroom leading up to the Super Bowl. There is something for EVERYONE from basic math facts to angles and velocity. There are also cross curricula ideas towards the bottom of the post! Make sure to check out all these goodies and let me know if you use any of them!

Wednesday, February 1, 2017

Hey y'all!
In case you didn't know already, I blog for a collaborative blog called Conversations From The Classroom! It is stuffed full of such great content and information and there is a new post up almost every day. This month, we want you to meet some of us behind the blog! We are doing 3 different hops - Facebook, Instagram & Blog posts. Hop on over to each for the chance to win some fabulous products and prizes from each member of the blog. Hop on over to my instagram for a chance to win a great product from my store to supplement your learning about Black History Month!